Landscape film set for YES

Heralded landscape architect Piet Oudolf is a man on a mission.

“I think it’s your journey in life to find out what real beauty is,” Oudolf said.

For an idea of how he discovers such, look no further than the documentary “Five Seasons: The Garden of Piet Oudolf” being shown for free at 10 a.m. July 17 at YES Cinema, 328 Jackson St. in downtown Columbus. An admirer in the film summarizes Oudolf’s work in simple-but glowing terms: “He plants as an artist paints.”

Oudolf is a leader in the emerging New Perennial Movement and designs some of the most beautiful perennial gardens in the world, according to landscape experts. The film is presented in partnership with the Columbus Pollinator Committee and Columbus Design Institute.

The documentary is being presented “to galvanize community awareness about the need to protect and expand pollinator habitat in Columbus and connect this thinking to the design of public spaces,” according to a statement from organizers.

The documentary’s focus also is significant because Columbus Pollinator Committee, with the Columbus Design Institute serving as a programming collaborator and fiscal agent, is pursuing a “Bee City USA’’ designation for Columbus from the Xerces Society.

Promotional material for the film labels it a “meditative documentary that reveals how revolutionary landscape designer Piet Oudolf upends our conventional notions of nature, public space, and, ultimately, beauty itself.”

Oudolf is the renowned garden designer of New York City’s High Line and Chicago’s Lurie Garden. The movie will be followed by a question-and-answer session with two landscape architects: Rachel Kavathe of Columbus and Sarah Hurt Evans of Indianapolis.

The showing is free due to a grant from the Duke Energy Foundation.

Donations are welcome to continue the native plantings throughout Columbus, organizers said.

Information: landmarkcolumbusfoundation.org

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What: The showing of the documentary "Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf."

When: 10 a.m. July 17.

Where: YES Cinema, 328 Jackson St. in downtown Columbus.

Tickets: Free.

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